Submarines and Warships of WW2

German, Japanese, Italian

History, datas and pictures of German, Italian and Japanese warships in WW2.

During WW2 the common
factor that permitted
the USA to wage war in both
Europe and the Pacific simultaneously,
and which allowed the UK
to exist at all, was merchant shipping.
Losses of warships could
cause problems, but losses of
merchantmen were potentially
disastrous. If the loss rate had
exceeded the construction rate
for a significant period, the Allies'
capacity to wage war would have
slowed, to the point of eventual
capitulation.

As World War I had adequately
proved to the Germans that submarines
were the best vehicles
for this form of warfare, it seems
extraordinary that more resources
were not put into their construction
in the late 1930s.Those
available caused damage enough,
but greater numbers and a higher
construction rate from the outset
would have swamped the ability
to cope of current Allied
defences.
Throughout the conflict, the
Germans strove to improve both
the technical quality of their
boats and the methods by which
they could best be employed, a
natural energy that contrasted
strangely with that of their Axis
partners.

Both Italy and Japan had
sizeable submarine fleets and, as
each joined the war at later dates,
they had adequate time to learn
at first hand the problems of submarine
warfare before actually
committing themselves.
Italy, however, found her boats
to be deficient in quality and
their crews both poorly trained
and, in many cases, suffering from
the same lack of motivation and
conviction that affected her surface
fleet.
Japan, on the other hand, had
no lack of motivation but was stricken with an inflexibility of
purpose that worked to the
American advantage. War waged
against merchant shipping was
viewed as 'defensive' so, despite
in most cases being manifestly
unsuitable for the purpose,
Japanese submarines were
employed almost exclusively
against warships. The twin facts
that American lines of communication
vulnerably straddled two
oceans and that American submarines
were throttling Japan by
blockade went unnoticed.

There was no lack of sacrifice.
In pursuing their various objectives,
the Axis partners lost more
than 950 boats in action and
many more from other causes.